The men's hockey team fell to No. 15 Clarkson on Friday night but rebounded with a tie against St. Lawrence on Saturday. The Clarkson game finished 3-1, but was close throughout. The following night's matchup against St. Lawrence ended in a 2-2 tie.
The weekend began on a rough note, when Clarkson's Louke Oakley beat goalie Dan Rosen '10, under three minutes after the puck dropped.
But things turned around with three minutes left in the first period, when Eric Slais '09 was sent to the penalty box, leaving Clarkson on a power play. With Clarkson a man up, Mike Stuart '09 broke loose from the neutral zone and took a shot from the right faceoff circle at Clarkson goalie Paul Karpowich. Karpowich blocked the shot, but Stuart regained the loose puck and knocked in the rebound, tying the game 1-1.
The second period was scoreless, but Brown's penalty kill was indicative of its play throughout the night. In four power play chances in the second period, Clarkson managed only two shots.
After the Brown penalty kill had faltered the previous weekend, giving up four power-play goals, the team "did a lot of work on it during the week," Head Coach Roger Grillo said. The work paid off, as the penalty kill went 10 for 10 on Friday. "It was a huge plus for us over the entire weekend," Grillo said.
Clarkson's Nick Tremblay broke the 1-1 tie 3:18 into the final period.
Bruno gained an advantage when Clarkson's Bryan Rufenach was sent to the penalty box for two minutes for hitting from behind with under three minutes left in the game.
But Brown was unable to capitalize, getting off only one shot on the power play.
With 46 seconds remaining, the Bears pulled Rosen, who finished with 24 saves on the night, and substituted in a sixth attacker. But Brown couldn't score even with the one-man advantage, and Clarkson's Brandon DeFazio scored an open-net goal with four seconds remaining, making the final score 3-1.
The next night's game against the St. Lawrence Saints began in a similar fashion as the Clarkson game, with Brown giving up a goal early - this time in the first seven minutes.
But Grillo said the early goals were not a result of flat starts. "Both nights we actually started well," Grillo said. "They just capitalized on an opportunity."
Just 15 seconds after Brown went on a power play, Jeff Buvinow '12 scored his first career goal to even the score at 1-1, 8:15 into the first period. Buvinow was assisted on the goal by Ryan Garbutt '09 and assistant captain Matt Vokes '09, who finished the game with two assists.
St. Lawrence scored a power-play goal with less than 30 seconds left in the second period to give the Saints a one-goal advantage entering the final period. Midway through the final period, St. Lawrence's Matt Raley got a five-minute penalty for hitting from behind and a 10-minute game misconduct penalty.
Sean McMonagle '10 took advantage of the power play at 13:33 with his first goal of the season, tying the game 2-2.
McMonagle's goal was assisted by Vokes and captain Devin Timberlake '10. The two assists on the night brought Vokes's season total to a team-high five assists.
Brown controlled the overtime, shooting three times to St. Lawrence's one. But both goalies were perfect, and the game ended in a tie.
Rosen turned in a strong effort in Saturday's game, making 35 saves in net.
Bruno heads to New Haven for a rematch with the Yale Bulldogs next Friday at 7 p.m. Though Yale defeated Brown 6-3 when the two faced off at the Meehan Auditorium last weekend, Grillo thinks the Bears have made strides since then.
Encouraged by this weekend's play, Grillo said, "We'll just try to continue down the same path."
